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Brat Booty - Books

 
 
 

This section provides many books that are rich in Military life and experiences. For your convenience, we have divided them into three sections:
About Brats

Ankaran Authored
About Turkey.

Let us know if you are aware of other items that we should list.

About Brats


Home Keeps Moving
by Heidi Sand-Hart
Web site: Amazon.com

This book follows a missionary family on their many moves through the eyes of a Third Culture Kid (TCK) and the unique phenomena of having four very different home countries to relate to. It tells the true story of being catapulted from continent to continent constantly: leaving friends and starting all over again and Heidi's unquenchable search for a home and sense of belonging in this world.You will laugh and cry along with Heidi as she recounts hilarious and heart-breaking tales from her childhood as West blends with East.


Military Brats
by Steve Dickenson and Todd Clark
Website: Mil-Mall

A collection of cartoon strips that chronicles and pokes fun at the trials and tribulations of Air Force families--particularly enlisted families.

 

 

Third Culture Kids
The Experience of Growing Up Among Worlds
by David C. Pollock and Ruth E Van Reken
Web site: Amazon.com

"Third Culture Kids" speaks to the challenges and rewards of a multicultural childhood; the joy of discovery and heartbreaking loss, its effect on maturing and personal identity, and the difficulty in transitioning home.

"Growing up as a TCK has been a gift and has significantly shaped my life and work. As I interact with world leaders one day and with those living in refugee camps the next, I continually draw upon my experience of living among different cultures. I am delighted to see the lessons learned from the traditional TCK experience live on in this new edition of Third Culture Kids." -- Scott Gration, Maj Gen, USAF (retired), President Obama's Special Envoy to Sudan


Durable Goods
by Elizabeth Berg
Softcover $12.95
- Brightwell Publishing

Best-selling author Elizabeth Berg, Army brat, is the author of 12 novels, including Talk before Sleep, Range of Motion, Joy School and The Art of Mending.

Review of Durable Goods:
“A rich coming-of-age novel. Katie’s fresh yet wise voice evokes that tender passage from being a girl to being a grown-up.”
--The New York Times Book Review

Durable Goods


The Brat Chronicles
by Michael Ritter
$10.39 (Paperback) - Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble
$5.49 (eBook)-Literary Road.com

In 1972, there were 371,366 dependents of military personnel living overseas, people who spent their childhoods in a world that stops promptly at 5:00 in the afternoon to pay homage to the flag. "The Brat Chronicles" reflects the experiences of these thousands of Americans who fought the good fight, not on the field of battle, but in living rooms of military housing around the world.

Listen to Michael Ritter at MilitaryBrat.com, Podcast 13


Waiting Wives
by Donna Moreau
$13.95

Web site: MilitaryBrat.com

In 1964, as the first B-52's took flight in what would become America's longest combat mission, an old Air Force base on the plains of Kansas became Schilling Manor, the only base ever to be set aside for the wives and children of soldiers assigned to Vietnam. Author, Donna Moreau, was the daughter of one such waiting wife and in her book Waiting Wives, the Story of Schilling Manor, Home front to the Vietnam war Donna investigates an extraordinary group of women. Signed and shipped by the author!

Listen to an interview with Donna Moreau at MilitaryBrat.com, Podcast 12


Military Brats: Legacies of Childhood Inside the Fortress
by Mary Edwards Wertsch

$19.95
Web site: Brightwell Publishing

Journalist Wertsch, daughter of an Army colonel interviewed 80 adult "brats" to record their childhood recollections. Wertsch describes a mixed legacy of alcoholism, abuse, rootlessness, and rigidity; yet also loyalty, achievement, resilience, and idealism.

The book is available in a larger paperback edition, a digital format and a second volume is due in late 2011 or early 2012. Volume II will explore how legacies of the Fortress play out for military brats in later life.


The Great Santini

by Pat Conroy
$7.50
Web site: MilitaryBrat.com

Step into the powerhouse life of Bull Meecham. He's all Marine-fighter pilot, king of the clouds, and absolute ruler of his family. Lillian is his wife...beautiful, southern-bred, with a core of velvet steel. Without her cool head, her kids would be in real trouble.

The Yokota Officers Club
by Sarah Bird
Starting $0.50
Web site: Amazon.com

Sarah Bird, Air Force Brat, wrote this book against a background of post World War II Japan and Vietnam era Okinawa. It is a fictionalized story of an Air Force family caught up in both the adventure and the politics of living on the local economy and the politics of rank and power in the "little Americas" that are US military bases abroad.

She is also the author of "Virgin of the Rodeo," "The Mommy Club," "The Boyfriend School," and "Alamo House."

Once A Brat
by Marilyn Celeste Morris
Starting $17.78
Web site: Amazon.com

As one of the first dependents to be sent overseas at the end of WWII, eight-year old Marilyn Celeste Morris received her very own orders from The War Department.

"I have always had difficulty answering the question, 'Where are you from?' I have had difficulty in sustaining relationships over a long period of time. I am capable of spending a great many hours, days, even, in splendid solitude --- all can be blamed on-- or credited to --my military brat background. And it's not all bad."

Books - Ankaran Authored

 

Ego-Attachment, The Route Of All Suffering
by Michael Walsh
Web site: Michael Walsh Activity, Writings, Schedule

If you’ve been seeking spiritual awakening for longer than you can remember, Michael Walsh 67 will kindle a persistent, bright fire in your tired heart. Practical, encouraging, and deeply wise, this book reveals the limitations of Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta for the western practitioner, and explores the impediments to awakening that are particular to the 21st-century seeker.


In Jack's Mind
By Corie Lee Barloggi
Web site: Amazon.com

Corie Strzelewicz 85 authored this story about a day in the life of a special cat named Jack. The book follows Jack from adoption to adulthood. Beautiful and rich illustrations bring the story to life.

Corie attended school in Ankara from 1981-1985. At publication she was a 2nd grade teacher for Fairfield Suisun School District in Fairfield, CA.

 

 

What Does The Doggie Say?
Illustrated By Corie Lee Barloggi
Web site: Amazon.com

Corie Strzelewicz 85 illustrated this charming and story that encourages children to use their verbal skills through the use of onomatopoeia; words that imitate sounds. Mothers' and grandmothers' hearts alike will be touched as the family completes their game and arrives at their destination: Grandma's house.

The entry above is about Corie's first authored book, "In Jack's Mind."


The Last Sentry
The True Story That Inspired
"The Hunt for Red October"
by Gregory D. Young 71
& Nate Braden
Web site: Amazon.com

This account of a mutiny aboard the Russian destroyer Storozhevoy offers a revealing look at Soviet decrepitude, circa 1975. Valery Sablin, the political officer, apparently intended to sail to international waters and then demand that the Soviet authorities give him daily television and radio air time to broadcast revolutionary manifestos. Amazingly, he managed to persuade most of the ship's crew.


The book has been picked up by BBC and the Smithsonian channel for a one hour documentary which will air in the late Summer/Fall 2009.

Casting From The Far Bank
by Fred Laird
Web site: Amazon.com

Fred Laird 66 attended school in Ankara from 1963-1965.

"Casting from the Far Bank," a collection of short stories with a hint of mysticism and humor thrown in. It is one man’s fond recollections of fishing experiences and an attempt to explain his obsession with the pastime.


Death By Innocence
By Thomas Slagle
Web site: Amazon.com

Product Description:
In 1969, at the height of the Viet Nam War, four American military and State Department brats spend their last year of high school on an American military base in Ankara, Turkey. Rampant drug use and innocent lapses of judgment combine to produce emotional scars that will last their lifetimes.


The Quigmans: Tunnel of Just Friends
By Buddy Hickerson
Web site: Amazon.com

Buddy Hickerson 76 attended his freshman and sophomore year of high school in Ankara, Turkey. He is the creator of the Quigmans and a syndicated cartoonist/humorist.


Dangerous Ground (2009)
By Scott Ritter
Web site: Amazon.com

Target Iran (2007)
Waging Peace (2007)
Iraq Confidential (2006)
Frontier Justice (2003)
Endgame (2004)
War on Iraq (2002)

 

Scott Ritter 79 is noted for his role as a chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998, and later for his criticism of United States foreign policy in the Middle East. Prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Ritter publicly argued that Iraq possessed no significant weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).

Scott attended his freshman year at GCMHS in Ankara, Turkey.


Vignettes from a Year in Borneo: Local People and Conservation
By Carol J. Pierce Colfer
Web site: LuLu

In this book, Carol "Jeanne" Pierce 63, writes about her experience with her family in Danau Sentarum National Park, in the center of Borneo. She and her husband were working with communities there to manage an area of flooded forests. The book introduces the people and the area, and describes the joys and frustrations of working with NGOs, consulting firms, government and local communities.


i

Playing from the Heart
Edited by Robert L. Doerschuk
$19.95
Web site: Backbeat Books

Playing from the Heart is a collection of interviews published by the magazines at GPI (Guitar Player Inc.), where Bob, a 1969 graduate of Ankara High School, worked from 1977 through 1995 on the staff of Keyboard magazine. Most of the interviews in the Keyboard section were written by him.

88: The Giants of Jazz Piano
By Robert L. Doerschuk
$29.95
Web site: Backbeat Books

88: The Giants of Jazz Piano is a collection of 88 short essays on the lives of the most influential and historically important jazz pianists.


Leaving the Alamo
By Dick Stanley
$8.36
Web site: Amazon.com

Dick Stanley, a 1962 graduate of Ankara High School, wrote these stories of middle-aged Texans, combat veterans of Vietnam, who are not in prison, panhandling, or sleeping under bridges. For the most part, they’ve learned to live with the war that still goes on in their heads, although one also has murder on his mind.


Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey
Edited by Anastasia M. Ashman, Jennifer Eaton Gökmen
Starting $10.24
Web site: expatharem.com
Interview with editors (Turkish Radio Hour)

This critically-acclaimed collection invites you into the Turkey that several women from seven nations know, their experiences spanning the entire country and the last four decades in true tales of cultural conflict and discovery.

In the book is a sensitive story by Maria Yarbrough (Orhan) 72 titled, A Mother's Charms. In her story, Maria is a Turkish bride who goes through pregnancy and the birth of her daughter in Istanbul.


A Beautiful Mind
by Sylvia Nasar
Starting at $1.75
Web site: Amazon.com

Sylvia Nasar, a 1965 graduate of Ankara High School, wrote this notable biography about mathematical genius John Forbes Nash, a founder of game theory, a RAND Cold War strategist and winner of a 1994 Nobel Prize in economics. She charts his plunge into paranoid schizophrenia beginning at age 30 and his spontaneous recovery in the early 1990s after decades of torment.

Books by Elmer J. Snow III
Corky Snow 61 drew on his experience as a detective sergeant, to write his detective and security adventures. Order Corky's first three books at Publish America. His most recent novel, Senatorial Revenge can be ordered at his web site, Elmer L. Snow, III

 

Senatorial Revenge
Web site: Elmer L Snow, III

Derrick Kirk Alexander Jr. realizes that the US government has reached their tolerance level toward acts of international terrorism when he is recruited from American University to work as a deep cover operative for the Central Intelligence Agency. His role in government is so secretive that he, along with several operatives known as the "dirty boys," answer only to a US senator who has full support from the president of the United States.


OverKill ($19.95)
Revenge Served Cold (Starting $19.95)
A View From Iraq ($19.95)
by Elmer L. Snow III
Web site: Publish America

In Overkill, Detective Nicholas T. Robertson's knowledge and experience soars as his mentor convinces us all that humor can be found in the most gruesome of investigations.


In Revenge Served Cold, detective Victor Dolan follows Nikita Androse to Louisiana, acting as her personal bodyguard. "Vic" is determined not to let anything come between he and Nikita; even a stalker’s bullet that brings Dolan to the brink of death. In New Orleans, Dolan meets up with an old friend who practices voodoo and has the morals of a cobra.


A View from Iraq relates the untold stories of several members of the United States Armed Forces and civilian support personnel whose personal acts and bravery were not previously reported.

In 2003, "Corky" Snow 61 provided personal protection services during the reconstruction of Iraq. As a security coordinator with KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary, Snow worked in numerous high-risk positions throughout Iraq, including Mosul, Baghdad, Tikrit, Balad, and culminating at Camp Anaconda. After surviving roadside attacks, and well over 150 incoming mortar attacks, he has something to tell.

From This Valley
by Evelyn McQueen Cook
Available through Mrs Cook

Mrs. Cook taught senior English in the mid 60s. From This Valley is a sentimental story of her rural Tennessee community and a way of life that is disappearing. She includes her stay in Ankara with her husband Ed, who was supervisor for our school.

Search for the Flaming Chalice
by Robert Shaw Kesler
Starting $9.95
Web site: http://www.thatcherforest.com/

Thatcher Forest Publishing is a company comprising one guy who makes and sells his own stuff. For years he did business with mail order catalogs, wholesalers, library distributors, and people willing to buy directly from the trunk of his car. Now, Bob Slentz-Kesler 86, is finally venturing into the online marketplace. Bob worked as a middle school English teacher and a librarian.

Search for the Flaming Chalice is his first novel for young people. Bob combines humor and magic in his fantasy story of three martens outwitting a sorcerer.


Sylvia, Rachel, Meredith, Anna
by Robert Slentz-Kesler 86
$14.95
Web site: Amazon.com

A week after discovering his fiancée's infidelity with a Rhodes scholar from Brazil, and two days after graduating from Monroe Hill College with a degree in cello performance, Gerard Kelderman--the son of a Flemish master diamond cutter--enters the army as an enlisted parachute infantryman.

"Slentz-Kesler writes compassionately about each of his characters, and refuses overly simple explanations for the various kinds of trouble humans manage to stir up for themselves." ~~ C. Tourino


Cows in the Corn

by R. George Seay
Starting $22.24

Web site: Amazon.com

Rich Croucher 64 is the author of this book. He passed on July 8, 2007. Additional information is available on our In Memoriam page.

Reviewer: Ken Wooden "Child Lures, LTD"
This novel is excellent reading with a finely woven story and a host of exceptional characters. The book is difficult to put down and easy to read more than once, as your thoughts begin when the book ends. Prepare for a thunderstorm of emotion that entertains while delivering a powerful message. Laugh, cry, get angry, be happy...cheer. Cows In The Corn has it all. I highly recommend this book for personal enjoyment and group discussion, but caution that it is not a novel for children of high school age or below.


Jill Jonnes 70, who attended school in Ankara, has released her sixth book, Eiffel's Tower. You can read about late 19th century Paris, with its global cast of millionaires, royals and potentates, artists, inventors, courtesans, engineers, and showmen, each determined to outshine all rivals at the Exposition Universelle, where Gustave Eiffel’s 1000-foot tower heralded the 20th century.

Additional books by Jill:
• Conquering Gotham. This book follows the construction of Penn Station and its tunnels.
• Narcs, and Pipe Dreams
About dying cities, drugs, and American failure.
Empires of Light
An account of the visionary inventors, Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse.
South Bronx Rising
Chronicles the rise, fall and resurrection of the Bronx.
Hep-Cats, Narcs, and Pipe Dreams
A history of America's Romance with illegal Drugs.

Learn more at Jill Jonnes

Books - About Turkey

Who Are The Turks?
by Justin & Carolyn McCarty
Free eBook
Website: Ataturk.com

A curriculum guide aimed at understanding the state of Turkey---its history, its evolution, its culture and its literature.
Some material appeared in the original 1992 edition, but much has been revised and updated. Excellent photographs and illustrations. Extensive history and literature lesson plans.

Turkey--Bright Sun, Strong Tea
by Tom Brosnahan
$15.95
Web site: Turkey Travel Planner

A humorous travel memoir, tells how Brosnahan got involved with Turkey as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in the 1960s. Included a lot of background information on Turkey and the Turks so that it would be a good airplane and end-of-the-day reading for anyone going to, or traveling in Turkey.

Click here to order your personally-inscribed, autographed copy online (ISBN 0-9767531-0-3, 304 pages, US$15.95).


Scotch and Holy Water
by John D. Tumpane

Web site: Amazon.com (available from $9) or
St. Giles Press POB 1416 Lafayette, CA 94549

Tumpane, an American company, held Base Maintenance Contracts in Turkey providing many of the basic support functions at TUSLOG installations.

"John D." provides an account of his life and escapades in this book. "Anyone who has any interest in or connection to Turkey should read his insightful book," Muharren Sev.

Our own Ebru Craft 89, "I first read this book after finding it [in] my father's library when I was 18. I read it as almost his own stories from his stationing there earlier on."

John died in October 1997 and this book is no longer in print so snatch this one up while you still can.

Please note that listed price is what is available at the posting of this page and may be subject to change